Mumbai buzz: 'smart' manhole covers | metro line-3 first phase expected this year… and more

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be spending Rs 6,080 crores to concrete 400 km of Mumbai’s roads. The civic body has selected five large construction firms with a track

record in building national highways to carry out the job, effectively eliminating small road contractors in order to fulfil the largest-ever civic contract. The road contractors will be

responsible to maintain the roads for a period of ten years. Three contracts amounting to Rs 4,000 crore have been allotted to western suburbs. The contract worth Rs 846 crore has been

allotted to the eastern suburbs and the island city has been allotted contract worth Rs 1,234 crore. ------------------------- ROMAN CATHOLICS OFFENDED BY BMC’S NOTICE SEEKING CENTURY-OLD

BURIAL LAND IN BANDRA Thousands of Roman Catholics in Mumbai were angered by the BMC’s recent notice to the century-old St. Peter’s Seaside Cemetery in Bandra, in which the civic body has

requested a piece of land for road widening. The community has now made the decision to sign a petition asking the BMC to withdraw its decision. The catholic community also pointed out that

as a part of its development plan, BMC was supposed to provide land for burials and cremations and not take away the existing ones. The Bombay Catholic Sabha has now called for an urgent

meeting of community members at Loyola Hall, St Peter’s Church in Bandra. SOURCE: MID-DAY FIRST PHASE OF METRO LINE-3 TO BE ROLLED OUT THIS YEAR The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC)

plans to open the first phase of the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro-3 Corridor in 2023, from Aarey to Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). The MMRC has received all the eight coaches of the second train,

which will be assembled and put to trial soon. The first train has already undergone all dynamic and static tests through the trial runs of more than 1,500 km. The second eight-coach train,

manufactured in Andhra Pradesh, arrived in Mumbai on December 29th. It will be undergoing the required tests in a 5-km stretch on the ramp between Sariput Nagar and Sahar. SOURCE: HINDUSTAN

TIMES ------------------------- READ MORE: MMRDA CHIEF SVR SRINIVAS: “MUMBAIKARS CAN LOOK FORWARD TO GOOD, COMFORTABLE AND SAFE JOURNEYS WITH THE METRO.” ------------------------- BMC TO

SOON INSTALL A ‘SMART’ MANHOLE MONITORING SYSTEM To prevent untoward incidents caused by open manholes, the BMC will be installing a “smart” monitoring system that will sound an alarm in the

event of unauthorised manhole openings, missing or stolen covers, or overflow detection. In addition, the system will send alerts to the BMC sewer control room. The pilot project at 14

locations will be implemented by March at an estimated cost of Rs 18 lakh. There are about 74,000 manholes maintained by BMC’s sewerage department. The internet integrated monitoring system

will also include features for reporting complaints on drainage overflow and open manholes. The move come after the Bombay high court had recently warned the civic officials that they would

be held responsible if anyone fell into an open manhole. The court had also earlier directed the BMC to cover all manholes. SOURCE: TIMES OF INDIA ------------------------- READ MORE: 40% OF

MUMBAI’S WATER LOST: HOW CAN WATER LEAKS BE FIXED? ------------------------- START OF THE YEAR BROUGHT MORE VISITORS TO MUMBAI’S BYCULLA ZOO A staggering 32,820 people visited the Veer

Jijabai Bhosle Vanaspati Udyan Va Praani Sanghralay, commonly known as the Byculla Zoo, on January 1st, bringing in a Rs 13.78 lakh. This resulted in the zoo breaking its previous record of

31,8141 visitors on November 6th last year. In total, 27,262 people visited the zoo and purchased a physical ticket. It generated a total of Rs 9.60 lakh in revenue. On the other hand, 5,558

visitors purchased online tickets, generating Rs 4.18 lakh in revenue. With new renovations and new bird and animal species, along with a penguin exhibition, the zoo has become an

attraction for visitors from Mumbai as well as tourists. SOURCE: HINDUSTAN TIMES _[Complied by Eshan Kalyanikar]_ ALSO READ: